Infirmary Blues
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Laxus is laid up for the night, so Mirajane talks him through his troubles. - one-shot.


He was in a foul mood.

The Thunder Legion all thought it to be directed towards them.

"As well it should be," Freed scolded the other two though, truly, his words cut himself more to the core than it did either of them. "It is the fault of no other than ours that Laxus is...that he is..."

Going to be okay, Mirajane and Kinana had assured them all, in the upstairs infirmary, where he'd been taken upon arriving back from his ill fated misadventure with his very loyal followers. Wendy came up as well, to tentatively test out some of her medical related magic, but honestly, there wasn't much anyone can do for Laxus.

"You need rest," Wendy offered softly to which the slayer growled, rather deeply, scaring the poor girl and getting the condemnation of most his guild mates. But Laxus hardly cared for them. For any of them.

But when he shoved up to hobble down the stairs from the second floor and then, hopefully, make it back to his apartment, his grandfather put a stop to that. The slight man ordered Laxus to rest up his leg, at least for the night, and to allow Mirajane and Kinana to tend to his bandages. Then he clapped Wendy on the shoulder, thanked her for all her hard work, and went back downstairs to resume nap- err, meditating atop the bar.

Yes.

Meditating.

The injuries really weren't that graphic and hardly anything of concern for the slayer, but he did have numerous ailments and though he wanted to defy the old man, Mirajane had brought him over something to drink only moments before and wow, why was it suddenly so dark? Were his eyes closed?

Oh.

Oh.

Fucking she-devil.

After adequately sedating the grouch, Mirajane only instructed the others to let themselves be looked over. Though the trio refuted claims of being injured at all, Mirajane still made them go downstairs to have Wendy look them over, leaving Laxus alone to rest.

The next time the most volatile slayer awoke it was dark and the guildhall felt still for once. Not like any way Laxus typically experienced it. He was groggy still, as he blinked thick sleep from his eyes, and slightly confused as to his surroundings. All it took was one attempt at moving his legs and oh, yeah, fuck, he got all fucked up out on a job, huh?

"Easy, dragon," he heard from the doorway where, at the sound of his waking, someone was coming up from the downstairs. "I didn't give you anything for the pain."

"I don't fucking need something for the pain," he grumbled as Mirajane, who fucking else, came in with her dumb smile and stupid blue eyes and he hated it. He fucking hated it. There they were, assumably all alone in the hall for once, with one another for once, and he was too fucking angry at anything that moved to put any on the woman. "I need to go home."

"You need to check your tone," was all she ordered right back, her bubbly one absent at the lack of other's present. He imagined this was the one she used to keep two younger siblings in line all those years it was on the three of them.

The three of them.

"How are we alone?" he grumbled as, letting his eyes slip shut once more, he only fell back into the bed. The only magical power he felt at the moment belonged to the woman and, as she went over to one of the cabinets and began to pull out an assortment of items, it was the absence of three others that he felt the most severely.

"It took some doing," Mirajane admitted. "For one, Wendy felt like she'd failed, since you barked at her and wanted to stick around and prove herself-"

"I didn't...bark at the kid."

"Well, dragons don't bark, so I guess you must have...roared?"

"Mirajane-"

"You were rude," she told him bluntly then, ruse dropped. "She's trying very hard to fill Porlyusica's shoes and it doesn't help when you act that way." But then, as she turned to face him, it was with a sigh on her lips. "Kinana wasn't easy to get rid of either though. She didn't wanna leave me alone with you, since you were in such a mood. And your grandfather felt the same way. But I only assured them that I actually needed to be alone, because it's the only way that I can handle handle arithmetic and someone really does need to go over the budget for the year and… Then Lisanna wanted to stay up here and deal with you, while I stayed downstairs and dealt with that, but luckily Lucy… Lucy knows that we're… I told her, before about… So she convinced Lisanna to go hang out with her and Cana tonight, because they're going to-"

"Where," he finally cut her off, opening his eyes to meet hers when she arrived at the side of his cot, "are the Thunder Legion?"

"You scared them off."

"No way."

"They think," Mira told him and her tone was different now, not an out right dressing down, but rather the implication of one, "that it's their fault that you're injured."

"Bullshit."

"Watch your mouth."

"Mirajane-"

"You're the one that told them that. Or at least that's what Freed told me. He, Evergreen, and Bickslow are very upset."

"'bout what?" he grumbled then. "I'm hardly even injured."

She only shrugged. "You tell me."

Without much prodding, he sat up then, to allow the woman to begin unraveling the gauze adorning his chest. Not looking at her, he only said, "I wasn't upset with them."

"You got carried in her by Freed and Bickslow cursing and-"

"I was upset," he cut her off, "with myself. I was angry at myself. I'm the one that should have gotten the job done. It was my fault. I'm the S-Class wizard. I have to be the one on top of my game. And I fucked it up."

Silence hung over them then, as Mira set to work checking and taking care of his wounds while Laxus brooded silently now, in better check of his emotions with the passage of time. Eventually though, as Mirajane motioned for him to sit on the edge of the bed, so she could look at his knee, he let out a long sigh.

"Is it bad?"

"Just bruised. I had ice on it earlier for you." Looking up at him then as she bent before him, she asked, "What happened?"

"Don't you know?"

"I know what they said. But I'd like to hear what you have to say."

Instead of answering then, Laxus look passed her, glaring over at an empty cot as he said, "I'm hungry."

"That stinks."

"Mirajane-"

"The kitchen is closed, Lax."

His glare turned to her then. "I thought that you were supposed to be taking care of me?"

"Oh, dragon, hush. You know I'm going to make you something."

"How should I know that?"

"Don't get an attitude with me." Rising once more, she put a hand on her hip and raised a finger to wag in his face. As Laxus only blink, she added, "I'm not like your friends; I won't sit around feeling awful just to make you feel better. You had a bad job. It happens. Getting all down on yourself won't make it any better."

His gaze was downright smoldering now and neither said much to the other before she disappeared out of the infirmary, off to fix him something quick to eat, no doubt. Laxus only took to crossing his arms over his chest, disgruntled and now severely put out. If his knee wasn't fucking killing him so badly, he might have hobbled on back to his apartment.

And…

If Mira wasn't there to take care of him.

Even upset with one another, he knew where his bread was buttered.

Quite literally in this situation.

He was in no better mood when Mirajane returned with his plate and she only sighed some, as she sat it in his lap with a kiss to the cheek. He grunted something close to a thanks, perhaps, but just as quickly, she disappeared out of the room once more and honestly, he thought she'd just let him stew himself back to sleep. She actually seemed worried about the budget or whatever. More so than him at least.

And it wasn't like he thought he deserved her concern. He'd been injured far worse over the years. Even in the past one in which they'd begun tentatively dating under their guild's nose, he'd experienced far worse.

But this felt different somehow for some reason and though he knew there was no way she could place it exactly, certainly knew it himself.

"I know you're not always in the mood for it, but I thought that this might brighten your mood a bit. Or at leas help you drift off, after your meal." Mirajane smiled at him, when she came back into the room, her guitar in one hand. "Only if you want, I mean."

This got a shrug from the man and some more grunting, while Mirajane only smiled easily, all slights forgiven. Just like that. Taking a seat on the cot beside his, she took to strumming and humming and Laxus didn't want to admit it.

Everything was always so hard to admit for him.

Even things that he reconciled with, he liked to only admit to himself and just himself, where he could slowly forget about them as they were buried beneath new and more concerning revelations about himself.

But that's not how things were supposed to be anymore. At least that's what Mirajane told him, when they'd lie together in bed at night. It was just as rare for her, she told him, that she felt this way about someone.

"So open," she'd say as she stroked his chest and Laxus hated it, but…

It was just too easy to talk to her.

About everything.

They didn't get to spend much time together, less, even, than if they weren't actively attempting to hide their relationship. But when they were together, he just felt…

Mira was nice. And sweet. Which was actually hard to get used to. But she was also understanding of the many woes of a high class wizard as well as the typical childhood trauma that seemed mostly customary with being a Fairy Tail mage. It was easy to tell her about things he'd rather not let out because Mira got it.

Really, she did.

And even when she didn't, well, she had things that she couldn't tell others too easily either. What she really thought about all the drunks and drama up at the hall, how underappreciated she felt at times and under utilized.

Their connection never felt forced and, as he sat on the cot that very late night, he eventually found himself letting out a long breath he didn't realize he was harboring.

"I'm supposed to look out for them," he told her softly as Mirajane only continued to play and home, though her eyes did lift up to stare over at him. "Freed can hold his own, of course, and Ever and Bickslow are plenty strong, but… When things go to shit, it's on me. I shouldn't have gone off on my own. That's what I did. I went off to track a guy on my own and left them to handle something that was above their pay grade. I took them out on an S-Class job and just left them, to deal with something on their own. And by the time I got back to them, things were just… I could have gone on. You know. Finished things. But they were getting away and Freed was worried about some of my wounds and I just… Caring about other people's so fucking hard."

Her eyes drifted slowly away and, as her humming stopped, her strumming continued around her words.

"You know," she told him softly, "I did go on a pretty bad S-Class job myself. Once."

And Laxus paled.

"M-Mirajane, I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, dragon." Then she sighed. "Now, I guess it really is okay. Considering everything. But… You love them like I love my siblings, you know? Don't you?"

Snorting that time, his pale flesh turned more into a flush as he muttered, "I dunno about that."

"I do."

"Mira-"

"You did what you had to do," she told him simply then. "To protect your friends. Your best friends." That time, her hum was more mocking as she added, "Your only friends."

"You're a crummy nurse."

"And you need to stop sulking." Her strumming stopped then as she spoke to him truthfully. "You know as well as I do that sometimes you retreat and come back to something later. Once you're all healed up, you're going to go back out on that job and finish it. Aren't you? I've never known my dragon to be a quitter."

"I'm not one."

"Then get better and get back out there. You whiner."

That time he only rolled his eyes while Mirajane grinned over at him fully.

"It's hard being the older sibling," she assured him. "Looking out for everyone. It never gets easier. It just… You get used to it."

But Laxus was tired, so tired, of many things. Including on dwelling on the (extremely recent) past. Eyes drooping shut then, he remarked, "I always thought staying the night with you here, all alone, in the hall would be different."

"Different?"

"That we'd fuck," he told her with the same bluntness she'd told him to stop being such a drag, but with much more vulgarity. And with that, Mirajane was jumping up, a frown on her face, to go retrieve his plate and, finally, get back to work on that budget issue.

"Go to sleep, dragon," she offered simply as she left him alone with his thoughts. "You gotta get strong again, don't you? So you can show out for your friends? Not to mention apologize to them in the morning."

He didn't verbalize it (he was practically snoozing once more anyways), but yeah. He did.


End file.
